1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laser device provided with the function of predicting the occurrence of condensation in a laser oscillator.
2. Description of the Related Art
If condensation occurs in a laser oscillator, portions which should be electrically insulated from each other end up becoming electrically connected or the optical parts fall in performance and thereby operation of the laser oscillator is obstructed. To prevent such condensation, for example, JP H06-260708 A describes the art of feeding dry gas into the container housing the body of the laser oscillator to adjust the dew point at the inside of the container to become lower than the temperature of the cooling water.
Further, JP H09-083044 A describes a cooling device of a laser oscillator provided with a first feed pipe, a first discharge pipe, respectively a second feed pipe and second discharge pipe through which a laser power part is connected, and a flow rate adjustment mechanism which adjusts the cooling water flowing from the second feed pipe to the laser power part so that the temperature of a heat generating element etc. at this laser power part etc. is maintained at a certain temperature range.
On the other hand, art enabling the occurrence of condensation to be predicted in advance has been desired. For example, JP H07-029453 U does not cover a laser device, but discloses a device enabling automatic detection in prediction of condensation at an object surface at the time of bonding work or diagnosing a condensation environment inside a building and which can continuously record the trends in fluctuation.
If applying a device such as described in JP H07-029453 U to a laser device, it is understood that if occurrence of condensation were predicted, it would be possible to limit the operation of the laser oscillator by issuing a warning. However, in a laser device, to suitably adjust the temperature and humidity of the surroundings of the laser oscillator, sometimes the temperature/humidity adjusting device (air-conditioner etc.) for the housing of the laser oscillator is used, but if using such an adjusting device, since the temperature and humidity of the surroundings of the laser oscillator change along with the elapse of time, if standing by while leaving the adjusting device operating, sometimes condensation would be liable to no longer occur. It is not efficient to limit the operation of the laser oscillator up to such an event.
Further, if using cooling water, sometimes the temperature of the cooling water will change for some reason or another. As described in JP H07-029453 U, with just measuring the surface temperature of the object, at the time of measurement of temperature, it will be difficult to predict in advance the occurrence of condensation after the time of measurement of temperature due to the drop in temperature of the cooling water.